Man City Brighton Penalties: Rulli the Hero as Maresca Admits “We Never Practised” 😱🔥
Man City Brighton penalties decided a chaotic Carabao Cup tie, and Geronimo Rulli was the hero 😬 The Argentine saved two spot-kicks as City won 4-3 on penalties after a 2-2 draw. And Enzo Maresca admitted his team have not practised penalties once since he arrived 💥
Manchester City 2-2 Brighton. It was not a classic. It was chaos. And City survived it.
Brighton led twice. Malick Yalcouye scored in the 30th minute, and Georginio Rutter restored the lead in the 47th. Both times, City came back. Mateo Kovacic equalised with a low strike from outside the box before half-time. Vitor Reis flicked in Rayan Cherki’s free-kick in the 72nd minute .
Then came the Man City Brighton penalties. And then came Rulli.
Rulli’s Two Saves Send City Through 🧤
The shootout was not straightforward. Kovacic, who had scored in normal time, missed City’s fourth penalty. Jason Steele saved it. Brighton had the advantage.
Then Rulli stepped up. He denied Yasin Ayari. Cherki scored City’s fifth. And Rulli saved again, this time from Lewis Dunk, to send City into the quarter-finals .
It was the Argentine’s second appearance for City since returning to the club this summer. And it was the kind of performance that justifies Maresca’s decision to rest Gianluigi Donnarumma for the night.
Maresca’s Admission: “We Never Practised Penalties” 😬
After the match, Maresca made a confession that will surprise every City fan.
“To be honest, since I’ve been here we never practised penalties,” he said. “We’re very happy with the five, even Mateo. It always happens, the one that scored during the 90 minutes, and then misses the penalty” .
It is a remarkable statement. City won a shootout without practising for it. They won because Rulli made saves, because Cherki kept his nerve, and because Foden, Fernandez, and Doku all converted their kicks.
Maresca was also happy with his rotation. He rested Erling Haaland, Donnarumma, Ruben Dias, Elliot Anderson, and Josko Gvardiol entirely. He made nine changes. And City still found a way to win.
“I was happy with the way we planned the game, with the rotation, and especially I was very, very, very happy with the ones that were playing,” he said .
My Take: This Is What Squad Depth Actually Looks Like 💡
Everyone will talk about the Man City Brighton penalties. They will talk about Rulli’s saves. They will talk about Maresca’s admission.
But the real story is the squad.
City played without their best goalkeeper, their best defender, their best midfielder, and their best striker. They started with four Academy graduates, and Kovacic was six years older than any of his outfield teammates . They played against a Brighton side that is flying high in the Premier League, a side that knocked Manchester United out of this competition in the previous round .
And they won.
It was not pretty. Maresca admitted the game was “chaotic” and that City “could have done better defensively” . Brighton were the better side for long stretches. They hit the woodwork. They had chances to win it in normal time.
But City found a way. That is what good teams do. That is what squad depth is supposed to look like.
What Happens Next 👀
City face Bradford City in the Carabao Cup quarter-finals in December . Bradford are in League One, and they will be the underdogs. But after Arsenal’s defeat to Fleetwood, nobody is taking lower-league opposition for granted.
Before that, City face Brighton again on Saturday in the Premier League. Same opponent. Different competition. Maresca expects Brighton to play the same way.
City will have Haaland, Donnarumma, Dias, and Gvardiol back. They will be fresh. And they will be looking for revenge against a Brighton side that pushed them to the limit.
The Man City Brighton penalties shootout was not a classic. But it was a win. And in a season defined by chaos, that is all that matters.
